


Perception

by Author376



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Alien Culture, Humor, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-19
Updated: 2019-12-19
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:15:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21853549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Author376/pseuds/Author376
Summary: Kira makes some assumptions, misses a few social hints, and ends up discussing cross-cultural understanding and Terran pamphletry with Jadzia.
Relationships: Jadzia Dax/Worf
Comments: 64
Kudos: 85





	Perception

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ConceptaDecency](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConceptaDecency/gifts).



> This ended up in the comments of ConceptaDecency's fic "As Christmas" but I polished up the snippet of a fic and posted it. I strongly urge you to read that fic as well and pick up more on the theme of how easy it is to miss something social if you're from a different society!

Major Kira Nerys was not having the best day. She’d had to deal with _Dukat_. Ziyal’s enthusiasm for the unfortunate being who’d contributed half of her DNA and presence at the meeting had meant she’d had to restrain herself and her opinions more than she would have for anyone else. Then, on top of all of that, there’d been a climate control fluctuation in Ops that had left the entire place downright frosty and Sisko in the kind of touchy, snappish mood that transferred like the plague to everyone around him.

While there had certainly been plenty of times in Kira’s life when she needed a drink _more_ , Kira had to admit there had been very few times when she needed a drink more and could readily get one. This time, with her shift over, relief and some much-needed venting and girl talk were only a short walk down the Promenade away where Jadzia was waiting at a table in Quark’s. Unfortunately, unwinding would have to wait because the first sight of Jadzia wasn’t promising, and the first words out of Nerys’ mouth reflected that.

"Jadzia, what happened? You look like you got in a fight with an angry meat grinder!"

"What?" Jadzia grinned, not even wincing as she stretched a recently split lip.

"Who beat you up?" Kira demanded, then grew suspicious. "Or did you pull the safety settings on the holosuites again? If Odo goes to write you up for it this time I am _not_ trying to talk him out of it. You’re really going to get hurt if you keep this up.”

"It's nothing, just... well, something. It's something *good*."

“Since when is injury a good thing?”

“Haven’t you ever heard the term ‘good hurt’?”

"Sure, I have.” Kira’s tone couldn’t have gotten drier if she’d shipped it to Cardassia to bake in that pestilential planet’s pestilential deserts. “Only I don’t think it means the same thing on Trill as it did on Bajor when we used it. Unless the other guy's currently on Bashir's table in several pieces?" 

“I have it on the best possible authority the _‘other guy’_ wants nothing to do with Dr. Bashir’s treatment in addressing his ‘justly earned battle scars’.”

"Uh-huh.” Kira would never understand some things about her dearest friend on the station. She really wouldn’t. “Moving on: Why aren't _you_ in the infirmary, Jadzia? Your bruises have bruises!"

"Julian already took care of everything I wanted taken care of." And there was that positively dirty smirk Kira knew meant she should stop talking and fortify herself for the rest of the conversation. In pursuit of this, Kira held up a hand while she flagged down a waiter and got herself a glass of spring wine. That accomplished, she took an inelegant gulp and gestured magnanimously towards the other woman. "Alright, go ahead and tell me. Did you finally convince Morn to take you out?"

"No, though I'm sure Morn's got a wild side even if he does like to pretend he's some velvet-gloved Romeo."

"I'm glad to know it didn't happen on a date. It cannot be remotely healthy to pick up more bruises on a date than in a fistfight."

"Oh, that depends entirely on who you're dating."

"Uh-huh," Kira rolled her eyes. "I'm just going to call this part of the incomprehensible non-Bajoran B.S. that the Federation likes to stick in its weird pamphlets."

"' _Safe, Sane, and Consensual'_ , predates the Federation, Nerys, and you shouldn't knock it until you try it."

"I'd rather not have my dates end in sutures." Kira huffed and then her curiosity got the better of her and she lowered her voice and leaned forward. "Who was it?"

“Why Nerys, are you asking me to kiss and tell?”

“Yes, spill.”

Jadzia's smug expression left Kira wondering. She looked like she'd just tripped and fallen into a latinum mine. Kira was wracking her brain trying to think of who could possibly be that attractive and coming up with a blank given what she already knew of Jadzia's previous lovers and potential lovers she’d refused to entertain. The station got a lot of traffic, but not _that_ much. 

"Worf."

"Huh? What about him?"

"It was Worf."

"Worf who what....?"

Jadzia's eyes narrowed in irritation.

"Who I had a very nice date and evening with, so stop playing dumb."

Kira's jaw dropped and Jadzia threw her hands up.

"Look, I know we've had our share of arguments, but that's just _chemistry_! Do I really look like he's that far out of my league, Nerys?"

Kira spluttered, seeing that her best friend was well on her way to real anger and hurt over her reaction. She nearly overturned her wine glass in her hurry to reassure her. Instead, she just ended up fluttering her hands a little in confusion.

"I mean - no, no, if anything you're out of his league. I just didn't think you were his type!"

"Really, what do you think his type is?"

It wasn’t the belligerence in Jadzia’s expression that drove Kira to blurt out something she knew was a foolish response. It was the hurt.

"I don't know, the Chief maybe?" 

"What? Kira, the Chief's married, you know that better than most!"

"I know, I know, but I mean..." Kira face-palmed, her face as red as her hair, she was sure of it. "Oh, Prophets save me, this is like the Human Thing!”

"Human thing?"

"Is it a Trill thing too? Or a Klingon thing or... dammit." Kira was thoroughly embarrassed and shrugged helplessly. "How do Reflectors act on Trill?"

"Reflectors?"

"You know: they like their mirror image." Kira thought back to her Standard lessons, and shrugged. "On Bajor Mirror Culture takes huge pride in their stoicism and self-confidence. I mean, I shouldn't have assumed, but to a Bajoran Worf's gayer than oil wrestling."

"Oil Wrestling?"

"It's a Southern Continent thing, but I'll show you some clips. You'll enjoy it." Kira offered by way of apology. "Sorry, just a cultural misunderstanding."

"It happens." Jadzia waved it off, but had begun to smile again so Kira relaxed a little. "On Trill we don't really have any specific mannerisms tied to one or the other sexual preference, though clothing cut and color can say a *lot* about what you're into and whether you're receptive to invitations at the moment. You thought _Chief_ _O’Brien_ was gay?"

"At first, yeah." Kira offered a little smile and lowered her voice. "Masculinity on Bajor is expressed with intelligence and enthusiasm. It's all about showing your ability to feel strongly and passionately and throw yourself into challenges. Femininity is a little more stoic. You're supposed to be the rock your family stands on, and Mirror Culture tends to just exaggerate the stereotypes in both directions. Probably more the result of societal pressure than anything else, but it's how everyone perceives it. Homosexuality is much more accepted now, but before the Occupation there was institutionalized discrimination so it's showing up more widely in entertainment and literature with the greater freedoms we have now. After the Cardassians, nobody wants to be seen as another type of oppressor."

"It's always good to hear people are as free to be themselves as they should be but did you say _enthusiasm?_ " Jadzia started to laugh. "Is that why, when Ambassador Troi had the virus you went googly eyed over Ju-."

"Oh, _why_ did you bring that up?" Kira flushed and took a long pull of her wine before shrugging helplessly. "Just because I don't like the toxic stereotype and Julian can be a little annoying doesn't mean I didn't grow up with it, you know? Bashir’s behavior is right out of some tawdry romance novel about a tweedy professor!"

Jadzia’s giggling had intensified, dabbing her split lip with a napkin.

"I cannot believe it. _Julian's_ the most hypermasculine man on the station by Bajoran standards? Wait - what about the Captain?"

"I'd say smack in the middle of the scale? He’s passionate and intelligent, but also stern and maternal. It's part of the Emissary's attraction; he's a figure that shows both sides of his nature and is ashamed by none of it. He’s embraced all aspects of the Prophets."

"Oh, wait, wait wait!" Jadzia had tears in her eyes as she leaned forward conspiratorily. "What about Vulcans?"

"I have *never* met a straight Vulcan - _oh!_ ”


End file.
